# 1982 in American television

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
The year 1982 involved some significant events in television. Below is a list of television-related events in the United States.

## Events

| Date | Event |
| January 1 | Cable News Network (CNN) initiates an associated channel, dubbed CNN2, that features a round-the-clock "news wheel" format. The channel would be renamed CNN Headline News a year later and is now known as HLN. |
| January 1 | The National Association of Broadcasters ends its long-standing Television Code in response to a Washington, D.C. circuit court ruling which declared parts of it unconstitutional. |
| January 2 | American Playhouse on PBS member station WNET/Newark, New Jersey presents John Cheever's teleplay The Shady Hill Kidnapping, featuring George Grizzard, Polly Holliday, Judith Ivey, E. Katherine Kerr and Celeste Holm as The Celebrity. |
| January 4 | Bryant Gumbel begins his 15-year stint as co-anchor of NBC's Today Show. |
| January 4 | ABC broadcasts a TV adaptation of The Elephant Man, with Philip Anglim and Kevin Conway reprising the roles they originated for the Broadway version of the story. |
| January 4 | In Panama City, Florida, NBC affiliate WMBB swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WJHG-TV. |
| January 10 | CBS televises the NFC Championship Game between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. In what would become one of the most iconic images in NFL history, San Francisco tight end Dwight Clark makes "The Catch" to enable the 49ers to defeat the Cowboys, 28–27, and go to their first ever Super Bowl. Vin Scully called the game alongside Hank Stram on television while Pat Summerall (who would do the play-by-play for Super Bowl XVI with John Madden two weeks later) called the game with Jack Buck for CBS Radio. |
| January 23 | CBS Reports broadcasts The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception, a documentary alleging a manipulation of intelligence estimates before the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. military operations at the time of the alleged estimates, would file a libel suit against CBS believing the report described him unfairly. |
| January 30 | The Golden Globe Awards air for the second consecutive year on CBS. The ceremony would soon become embroiled into controversy when actress Pia Zadora won that year's Golden Globe Award as Best New Star of the Year amid charges that her husband Meshulam Riklis had purchased the award with a promotional campaign that included Zadora's image presented prominently on Sunset Boulevard billboards, an appearance in Playboy magazine, and entertaining Golden Globe voters. After CBS decided to negate their broadcasting contract in light of the controversy, the Golden Globes would not be seen on broadcast network television again until 1996, when NBC picked them up. |
| February 1 | Late Night with David Letterman debuts on NBC; Letterman's first guests are Bill Murray (who dances around to the song "Physical") and "Mr. Wizard" Don Herbert. |
| February 1 | Two months after new owners Pacific Media Corporation changed its call letters from KECC-TV, CBS affiliate KECY-TV in Yuma, Arizona leaves the network to join ABC. This will leave Yuma without a CBS affiliate for 3 years, until KECY-TV rejoins the network in 1985 (it is now a Fox affiliate). |
| February 3 | Singer Jermaine Jackson guest-features, as Tootie (Kim Fields) gets to meet the person she admires on a very special episode of the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life. |
| February 7 | As part of a two-night event, ABC airs the network television broadcast premiere of Superman: The Movie. |
| March 4 | The crime drama spoof Police Squad! premieres on ABC; though it only lasts 6 episodes (the last being broadcast July 8); the comedy would serve as the origin of the Frank Drebin character and the inspiration for the Naked Gun movie series. |
| March 8 | Night of 100 Stars, a benefit for the Actors' Fund taped at Radio City Music Hall, is broadcast by ABC. |
| March 26 | The soap opera series Search for Tomorrow is broadcast for the final time by CBS. NBC immediately purchases it and begins broadcasting it the following Monday. |
| April 2 | John Chancellor anchors the NBC Nightly News for the final time, replaced on April 5 by the team of Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw, a partnership that lasts 17 months. |
| April 21 | Norman Lear purchases Avco Embassy Pictures and rechristens his TAT Communications Company as Embassy Television. |
| April 21 | WGXA in Macon, Georgia signs-on the air, giving the Macon market its first full-time ABC affiliate. |
| April 21 | WTTO in Birmingham, Alabama signs-on the air, giving the Birmingham market its first independent station. |
| May 2 | The Weather Channel is begun in the U.S. |
| May 15 | Danny DeVito hosts an episode of Saturday Night Live soon after Taxi is canceled after its fourth season. During the opening monologue, DeVito reads a letter supposedly from his mother asking God to forgive ABC for cancelling the show, adding that "but I'll understand if you don't." A filmed bit has him driving around New York looking morose until inspiration strikes, and he blows up the ABC building. In addition, the Taxi cast members are given an opportunity for closure, which up to that point had been denied for them due to the abrupt cancellation. The actors took their "final" bows during DeVito's opening monologue, only to have NBC (which aired SNL) pick up the show. |
| May 22 | In Boston, Massachusetts, CBS affiliate WNAC-TV ceases operations due to improprieties by its parent company RKO General, having lost the license (as well as those of KHJ-TV and WOR-TV, both of which RKO temporarily retain on appeal) after General Tire admitted to a litany of corporate misconduct (including, among other things, committing financial fraud over illegal political contributions and bribes) as part of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and RKO General withheld evidence from the FCC of General Tire's misconduct, and also failed to disclose evidence of accounting errors on its own part. Several hours later, New England Television begins operations of WNEV-TV (now independent station WHDH) on channel 7, retaining WNAC-TV's former CBS affiliation. |
| May 24 | The Peanuts special A Charlie Brown Celebration premiered on CBS. Which it includes several stories with one or two-word titles, was later adapted for the Saturday morning series, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, which premiered in 1983. |
| May 27 | The series finale of Mork & Mindy entitled "The Mork Report" is broadcast on ABC. While it actually was not the final episode to be filmed, ABC still aired it last in hopes of giving the canceled series some proper closure. |
| May 28 | At about 5:00 p.m., Joseph Billie Gwin, wanting to "prevent World War III", forces his way into the studios of Phoenix CBS affiliate KOOL-TV, fires a gunshot, takes 4 people hostage (holding one of them, cameraman Louis Villa, at close gunpoint), and demands national broadcasting time. Three hours later, Gwin releases 2 hostages, Jack Webb and Bob Cimino. At 9:30 p.m., with Gwin sitting next to him with a gun, KOOL anchor Bill Close reads a 20-minute statement; when finished, Close takes Gwin's gun and sets it on the table. |
| May 28 | American film critic Leonard Maltin makes his first appearance on the television news magazine Entertainment Tonight. |
| June 6 | The CBS affiliate in Orlando, WDBO-TV, changes its name to WCPX-TV. |
| July 11 | ABC broadcasts the FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and West Germany from Madrid. It's the first time that the World Cup's final match is aired live on American television. |
| July 13 | ABC broadcasts the Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It's the first time that the Mid-Summer's Classic is played outside of the United States. |
| July 21 | The only episode of the sitcom Cass Malloy airs on CBS. Although not picked up as a regular series, it serves as the pilot for the 1987–1989 syndicated sitcom She's the Sheriff. |
| July 29 | Professional wrestler Jerry Lawler slaps actor Andy Kaufman in the face on the NBC program Late Night with David Letterman; Kaufman responds by throwing coffee and shouting profanities at Lawler. The incident was later revealed to have been staged. |
| August 8 | In Columbia, Missouri, NBC affiliate and University of Missouri-owned KOMU-TV swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate KCBJ-TV. The swap would eventually be reversed in 1986. |
| August 30 | Field Communications begins its liquidation by selling off WFLD to Metromedia. |
| September 6 | After Tom Wopat and John Schneider quit the CBS action series The Dukes of Hazzard as a result of a contract dispute, their characters, Bo and Luke Duke, are written out of the series as joining a NASCAR team and are replaced by cousins Coy and Vance (played respectively by Byron Cherry and Christopher Mayer). Bo and Luke—and Wopat and Schneider—would return to the series by season's end. |
| September 11 | NBC resurrects Texaco Star Theater as a one-time special; however, instead of inviting Milton Berle, the man who hosted the original series during the 1950s, the special presents a salute to musicals. |
| September 11 | In Savannah, Georgia, NBC affiliate WSAV-TV swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WJCL, citing ABC's stronger ratings. The swap would eventually be reversed in 1986. |
| September 12 | KNLC, a religious independent station in St. Louis goes on the air. |
| September 13 | Mary Hart joins Entertainment Tonight as reporter and later co-host; she would fill the latter role until 2011. |
| September 20 | USA Network begins 24-hour operations, featuring the debut of the USA Cartoon Express, cable television's first structured animation block. |
| September 25 | Saturday Night Live begins its 8th season on NBC, with host Chevy Chase and musical guest Queen. Among the new additions for this season include future Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who will stay for 3 years (1982–1985) as a featured player/regular cast member. |
| September 30 | The pilot episode for Cheers airs on NBC. |
| October 1 | Independent station KDOC-TV commences broadcasting in Los Angeles. |
| October 2 | Mary Jo Catlett replaces Nedra Volz on the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, as the new housekeeper, Mrs. Pearl Gallagher. She will stay with the series until its conclusion in 1986. |
| October 3 | During the National Football League players strike (on what would have been Week 5 of the season), CBS broadcasts four Division III football games using their regular NFL broadcast crews. |
| October 4 | KMTR signs-on in Eugene, Oregon as an NBC affiliate. Due to NBC's persistent low ratings, the network's former affiliate KVAL-TV had been preempting NBC programming (with increasing regularity) in favor of programs from CBS (shared with ABC affiliate KEZI), forcing a frustrated NBC to seek a new station. With the move, KVAL-TV becomes a full-time CBS affiliate. |
| October 4 | The CBS affiliate in Phoenix, KOOL-TV, changes its name to KTSP-TV. |
| October 11 | WFBT, a religious television station in Minneapolis/St. Paul goes on the air. |
| October 12 | Cindy Williams makes her final appearance as Shirley Finney on Laverne & Shirley. |
| October 22 | Susan Stafford departs as co-host of the NBC game show Wheel of Fortune to do humanitarian work. Auditions occur for her replacement, with Vanna White formally replacing Stafford on December 13. As of 2022, White remains the co-host of Wheel. |
| October 25 | The second season of Cagney & Lacey premieres on CBS with Sharon Gless now assuming the role of Det. Christine Cagney. Meg Foster portrayed Cagney in the first season. Foster was dismissed after the first six episodes because CBS deemed her too aggressive and too likely to be perceived as a lesbian by the viewers. |
| November 13 | CBS broadcasts a world championship boxing match between Ray Mancini and Kim Duk-koo that results in Kim's death five days after the bout. |
| November 18 | After originating as a four-hour long programming block on a channel known as Escapade in January 1982, the channel as a whole is officially relaunched as The Playboy Channel. |
| November 20 | At the age of 7, Drew Barrymore becomes the youngest person to ever guest-host Saturday Night Live on NBC. As fate would have it, she ends up hosting the same episode that saw Andy Kaufman banned from ever performing on the show again. |
| November 26 | Howard Cosell denounces professional boxing during the ABC broadcast of a WBC heavyweight championship bout between titleholder Larry Holmes and a clearly outmatched Randall "Tex" Cobb at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Cosell, horrified over the brutality of the one-sided fight, said that if the referee did not stop the fight he would never broadcast a professional fight again. |
| December 5 | Southwest Championship Wrestling becomes the first weekly wrestling program on the USA Network, airing Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. However, because of a particularly bloody match between Tully Blanchard and "Bruiser" Bob Sweetan (which USA refused to air), the inability of the promotion to keep paying USA the $7,000 per week to keep the time slot, and a monetary offer made to the cable channel by WWF owner Vince McMahon to replace Southwest Championship Wrestling with his own programming, USA will end up canceling the program in September (in spite of the high ratings the show was garnering for the network), replacing it with WWF All American Wrestling. |
| December 11 | ESPN broadcasts its first live college football game, simulcasting the Independence Bowl match-up between Kansas State University and the University of Wisconsin. |
| December 11 | TBS in association with Sports Productions, Inc. broadcasts a heavily anticipated college basketball match-up between the Virginia Cavaliers (led by Ralph Sampson) and Georgetown Hoyas (led by Patrick Ewing). TBS paid approximately US$600,000 for the broadcasting rights to the game that was called by Skip Caray and Abe Lemons. |
| December 11 | Eddie Murphy becomes the first and to date, only person to guest-host NBC's Saturday Night Live while still a cast member. Murphy's 48 Hours co-star Nick Nolte was originally supposed to host until he fell ill. |
| December 27 | SuperStation WTBS debuts one of the first video game-themed TV series, Starcade. |
| December 29 | Nastassja Kinski makes a puzzling appearance on the NBC program Late Night with David Letterman, seeming somewhat oblivious to the jokes and everything else that was going on around her and appearing with an unusual hair style Letterman describes as "looking like there was an owl perched on top of her head." (Letterman's second guest, John Candy, comes out with his own hair moussed up in a pile as a spoof of Kinski's hair.) |
| December 29 | Surround Sound is introduced for home use by Dolby. |
| December 31 | Texas and The Doctors have their final episodes aired on NBC. |

## Programs
### Debuting this year

| Date | Show | Network |
| January 7 | Fame | NBC |
| January 12 | American Playhouse | PBS |
| January 16 | King's Crossing | ABC |
| January 23 | One of the Boys | NBC |
| February 1 | Late Night with David Letterman | NBC |
| March 6 | Chicago Story | NBC |
| March 3 | The Kids of Degrassi Street | Showtime |
| March 12 | T.J. Hooker | ABC |
| March 17 | Herbie the Matchmaker | CBS |
| March 19 | The Phoenix | ABC |
| March 23 | Joanie Loves Chachi | ABC |
| March 23 | Q.E.D. | CBS |
| March 25 | Cagney & Lacey | CBS |
| March 29 | Capitol | CBS |
| April 5 | Report to Murphy | CBS |
| April 14 | Teachers Only | NBC |
| May 4 | The Book of Lists | CBS |
| July 5 | America This Morning | ABC |
| July 21 | Cass Malloy | CBS |
| August 9 | Filthy Rich | CBS |
| September 1 | Sewing with Nancy | Syndication |
| September 12 | Blackstar | CBS |
| September 17 | The Powers of Matthew Star | NBC |
| September 18 | The Gary Coleman Show | NBC |
| September 18 | The Incredible Hulk | NBC |
| September 18 | Gilligan's Planet | CBS |
| September 18 | Meatballs & Spaghetti | CBS |
| September 18 | Pandamonium | CBS |
| September 19 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | CBS |
| September 20 | Child's Play | CBS |
| September 22 | Family Ties | NBC |
| September 22 | Tales of the Gold Monkey | ABC |
| September 24 | Bring 'Em Back Alive | CBS |
| September 25 | The Little Rascals | ABC |
| September 25 | Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour | ABC |
| September 25 | Pac-Man | ABC |
| September 25 | The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour | ABC |
| September 25 | Silver Spoons | NBC |
| September 26 | Knight Rider | NBC |
| September 26 | At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert | Syndication |
| September 26 | Matt Houston | ABC |
| September 26 | Gloria | CBS |
| September 27 | Square Pegs | CBS |
| September 30 | Cheers | NBC |
| October 1 | Remington Steele | NBC |
| October 2 | The Devlin Connection | NBC |
| October 3 | Voyagers! | NBC |
| October 4 | CBS Morning News | CBS |
| October 6 | Tucker's Witch | CBS |
| October 10 | Nature | PBS |
| October 14 | It Takes Two | ABC |
| October 22 | The Quest | ABC |
| October 25 | Newhart | CBS |
| October 26 | St. Elsewhere | NBC |
| October 26 | Gavilan | NBC |
| October 29 | The New Odd Couple | ABC |
| December 12 | Powerhouse | PBS |
| December 27 | Starcade | TBS |

### Resuming this year

| Show | Last aired | Previous network | Return date |
| Tattletales | 1978 | CBS | January 18 |

### Ending this year

| Date | Show | Debut |
| January 8 | Behind the Screen | 1981 |
| January 15 | Darkroom | 1981 |
| January 29 | Late Night with Tom Snyder | 1973 |
| March 1 | In Search of... (returned in 2002) | 1977 |
| March 6 | Spider-Man | 1981 |
| March 22 | Mr. Merlin | 1981 |
| March 26 | Password Plus (returned in 1984) | 1979 |
| April 7 | Shannon | 1981 |
| April 17 | The Lawrence Welk Show | 1955 |
| April 21 | WKRP in Cincinnati | 1978 |
| April 23 | Blockbusters | 1980 |
| April 23 | Fridays | 1980 |
| May 12 | The Incredible Hulk | 1977 |
| May 20 | Barney Miller | 1975 |
| May 21 | Strike Force | 1981 |
| May 27 | Mork & Mindy | 1978 |
| May 27 | Bosom Buddies | 1980 |
| June 11 | It's a Living (returned in 1985) | 1980 |
| July 21 | Cass Malloy | 1982 |
| July 30 | Lewis & Clark | 1981 |
| August 24 | McClain's Law | 1981 |
| September 4 | The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show | 1980 |
| September 5 | Goldie Gold and Action Jack | 1981 |
| September 10 | Match Game (returned in 1990) | 1962 |
| September 11 | The Flintstone Comedy Show | 1980 |
| September 11 | The Kwicky Koala Show | 1981 |
| September 12 | Code Red | 1981 |
| September 13 | Lou Grant | 1977 |
| September 18 | Laverne & Shirley | 1981 |
| October 1 | Sunrise Semester | 1957 |
| December 18 | Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo | 1980 |
| December 25 | The Devlin Connection | 1982 |
| December 31 | Texas | 1980 |
| December 31 | The Doctors | 1963 |

### Changing networks

| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
| Search for Tomorrow | CBS | NBC |
| Taxi | ABC | NBC |

### Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

| Title | Network | Premiere date |
| Cry for the Strangers | CBS | February 11 |
| The Elephant Man | ABC | January 4 |
| A Woman Called Golda | CBS | April 26 |
| Inside the Third Reich | ABC | May 9 |
| Little Gloria... Happy at Last | NBC | October 24 |
| Million Dollar Infield | CBS | February 2 |
| The Blue and the Gray (miniseries) | CBS | November 14 |
| The Executioner's Song | NBC | November 28, 29 |

## Networks and services
### Launches

| Network | Type | Launch date |
| Daytime and Lifetime Medical Television | Cable television | March |
| CNN2 | Cable television | January 1 |
| California Music Channel | Cable television | March 1 |
| The Weather Channel | Cable and satellite | May 2 |
| Cable Health Network | Cable television | June |
| Satellite News Channel | Cable television | June 21 |
| Home Shopping Club | Cable television | September 20 |
| Playboy TV | Cable television | November 18 |

### Conversions and rebrandings

| Old network | New network | Type | Conversion date | Notes | Source |
| CNN2 | Headline News | Cable television | August 9 | | |

### Closures

| Network | Type | Closure date | Notes | Source |
| CBS Cable | Cable television | December 17 | | |

## Television stations
### Sign-ons

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| February 14 | Albany, Georgia | WTSG-TV | 31 | Independent | |
| February 20 | Richmond, Virginia | WRLH-TV | 35 | Independent | |
| March 6 | Orlando, Florida | WIYE | 55 | Religious ind. | |
| March 12 | Mobile, Alabama (Pensacola, Florida) | WPMI | 15 | Independent | |
| March 18 | Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Michigan | WWMA-TV | 17 | Independent | |
| March 22 | Savannah, Georgia | WTGS | 28 | Independent | |
| April 4 | Chicago, Illinois | WBBS-TV | 60 | Spanish independent | |
| April 20 | Chicago, Illinois | WPWR-TV | 60 | Independent | |
| April 21 | Homewood, Alabama (Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, Alabama) | WTTO | 21 | Independent | |
| April 21 | Macon, Georgia | WGXA | 24 | ABC | |
| April 23 | Canton, Ohio | WOAC | 67 | Independent | |
| May 5 | Harlingen, Texas (Brownsville/McAllen, Texas) | KZLN | 60 | PBS | |
| May 11 | Richmond, Indiana/Dayton, Ohio | WKOI-TV | 43 | TBN | |
| May 16 | Opelika/Auburn, Alabama (Columbus, Georgia) | WSWS-TV | 66 | Independent | |
| May 22 | Boston, Massachusetts | WNEV-TV | 7 | CBS | |
| June 1 | Cape Girardeau, Missouri (Paducah, Kentucky/Harrisburg, Illinois) | KBSI | 23 | Independent | |
| June 13 | Lima, Ohio | WTLW | 44 | Religious independent | |
| June 16 | Inglis/Yankeetown/Lecanto/Gainesville, Florida | W49AI | 49 | Independent | |
| June 16 | Topeka, Kansas | K06KZ | 6 | Independent | Now Fox affiliate KTMJ-CD on channel 43 |
| July 1 | Baltimore, Maryland | WNUV | 54 | Independent | |
| July 5 | Daytona Beach/Orlando, Florida | WMOD | 26 | Independent | |
| July 8 | West Palm Beach, Florida | WHRS-TV | 42 | PBS | |
| July 21 | Victoria, Texas | KAVU-TV | 25 | NBC | |
| July 30 | Albany, New York | WXXA-TV | 23 | Independent | |
| August 4 | Dickinson, North Dakota | KDSE | 9 | PBS | Part of Prairie Public Television |
| August 6 | Cocoa/Orlando, Florida | WTGL-TV | 52 | Independent | |
| September 5 | Prescott/Phoenix, Arizona | KUSK | 7 | Independent | |
| September 10 | Lander, Wyoming | KOWY | 7 | CBS | |
| September 12 | St. Louis, Missouri | KNLC | 24 | Religious independent | now a MeTV owned-and-operated station |
| September 19 | Huntington/Charleston, West Virginia | WVAH-TV | 11 | Independent | |
| October 1 | Anaheim/Los Angeles, California | KDOC-TV | 56 | Independent | |
| October 2 | Centralia, Washington | KCKA | 15 | PBS | Satellite of KBTC-TV, Tacoma, Washington |
| October 4 | Eugene, Oregon | KMTR | 16 | NBC | |
| October 11 | Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota | WFBT | 29 | Independent | |
| October 16 | Miami, Florida | WDZL | 39 | Independent | |
| October 17 | West Palm Beach, Florida | WFLX | 29 | Independent | |
| October 18 | Beattyville/Lexington, Kentucky | WLJC-TV | 65 | Independent | |
| October 18 | Peoria, Illinois | WBLN | 43 | Independent | |
| October 24 | Amarillo, Texas | KJTV | 14 | Independent | |
| October 31 | Spokane, Washington | KAYU-TV | 28 | Independent | |
| November | Bruce, Mississippi | W07BN | 7 | Independent | |
| November 7 | Houston, Texas | KTXH | 20 | Independent | |
| November 16 | Jacksonville/New Bern, North Carolina | WUNM-TV | 19 | PBS | Part of University of North Carolina Television |
| November 24 | Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota | KXLI | 41 | Independent | |
| December 1 | Lansing, Michigan | WFSL-TV | 47 | Independent | |
| December 5 | Sandusky, Ohio | WGGN | 52 | Religious independent | |
| December 12 | Lake Charles, Louisiana | KVHP | 29 | Independent | |
| December 23 | Honolulu, Hawaii | KSHO-TV | 36 | Independent | |

### Network affiliation changes

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation |
| January 4 | Panama City, Florida | WJHG-TV | 7 | ABC | NBC |
| January 4 | Panama City, Florida | WMBB | 13 | NBC | ABC |
| February 1 | Yuma, Arizona/El Centro, California | KECY-TV | 9 | CBS | ABC |
| March 22 | Waterbury/Hartford, Connecticut | WTXX | 20 | NBC | Independent |
| August 8 | Columbia, Missouri | KOMU | 8 | NBC | ABC |
| August 8 | Columbia, Missouri | KCBJ-TV | 17 | ABC | NBC |
| September 11 | Savannah, Georgia | WSAV-TV | 3 | NBC | ABC |
| September 11 | Savannah, Georgia | WJCL | 22 | ABC | NBC |
| October 4 | Eugene, Oregon | KVAL-TV | 13 | NBC | CBS |

### Sign-Offs

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Sign-on date | Notes |
| May 22 | Boston, Massachusetts | WNAC-TV | 7 | CBS | June 21, 1948 | Replaced with WNEV-TV. |
| June 4 | Hanover, New Hampshire | WHED-TV | 15 | PBS | April 11, 1968 |

## Births

| Date | Name | Notability |
| January 1 | Ben Domenech | Editor |
| January 1 | Dana DeLorenzo | Actress (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Ash vs Evil Dead) |
| January 3 | Tricia Dickson | Voice actress (Nickelodeon) |
| January 5 | Allen Evangelista | Actor (Zoey 101, The Secret Life of the American Teenager) |
| January 5 | Jessica Chaffin | Actress |
| January 7 | Lauren Cohan | Actress (Supernatural, The Walking Dead) |
| January 7 | Eddie Redmayne | Actor |
| January 8 | Gaby Hoffmann | Actress |
| January 10 | Josh Ryan Evans | Actor (Timmy on Passions) (d. 2002) |
| January 13 | Ruth Wilson | Actress |
| January 16 | Birgitte Hjort Sørensen | Actress |
| January 17 | David Blue | Actor (Stargate Universe) |
| January 18 | Joanna Newsom | Actress |
| January 19 | Jodie Sweetin | Actress (Full House, Fuller House) |
| January 19 | Simone Missick | Actress |
| January 28 | Keltie Knight | Actress |
| January 29 | Adam Lambert | Singer, songwriter and actor (American Idol, Glee) |
| January 29 | Heidi Mueller | Actress (Passions) |
| January 31 | Jon Gabrus | Actor (CollegeHumor Originals) |
| February 3 | Bridget Regan | Actress (Legend of the Seeker, Jane the Virgin, Agent Carter) |
| February 6 | Alice Eve | Actress |
| February 7 | Cory Doran | Canadian actor (George of the Jungle, Jimmy Two-Shoes, Stoked, Pearlie, Wild Kratts, Total Drama, Rocket Monkeys) |
| February 8 | Danny Tamberelli | Actor (The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Magic School Bus, All That, Fillmore!) |
| February 10 | Lauren Scala | Television reporter |
| February 12 | Carter Hayden | Canadian actor (Total Drama, Camp Lakebottom) |
| February 17 | Brooke D'Orsay | Canadian actress (6teen, Happy Hour) |
| February 22 | Dichen Lachman | Actress |
| February 25 | Maria Kanellis | Actress |
| February 25 | Bert McCracken | Singer |
| February 28 | Diane Macedo | American news personality |
| March 1 | Alexis Fields | Actress (Roc, Sister, Sister, Kenan & Kel, Moesha) |
| March 2 | Ben Roethlisberger | American football quarterback |
| March 3 | Jessica Biel | Actress (7th Heaven) |
| March 3 | Mercedes Mason | Actress |
| March 10 | Thomas Middleditch | Canadian actor (Silicon Valley, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero) |
| March 11 | Lindsey McKeon | Actress (Saved by the Bell: The New Class, One Tree Hill) |
| March 11 | Robbie Daymond | Voice actor (Breadwinners, Sailor Moon, Get Blake!, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Spider-Man, Pinky Malinky) |
| March 11 | Thora Birch | Actress (The Outer Limits) |
| March 11 | Mircea Monroe | Actress |
| March 12 | Samm Levine | American actor |
| March 12 | Luis Gerardo Méndez | Actor |
| March 14 | Kate Maberly | Actress |
| March 16 | Julie Pace | American journalist |
| March 18 | Adam Pally | American actor |
| March 18 | Cornelius Smith Jr. | American actor |
| March 19 | Amanda Kloots | American dancer |
| March 20 | Nick Blood | English actor (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) |
| March 20 | Erica Luttrell | Voice actress (The Magic School Bus, Dave the Barbarian, Steven Universe) |
| March 21 | Santino Fontana | American actor |
| March 22 | Constance Wu | Actress (Fresh Off the Boat) |
| March 24 | James Napier Robertson | New Zealand actor (Power Rangers Dino Thunder) |
| March 25 | Sean Faris | Actor (Life as We Know It, Pretty Little Liars) |
| March 25 | Jenny Slate | Actress, comedian (Saturday Night Live, Bob's Burgers, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Muppet Babies) |
| March 25 | Alex Moffat | Actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
| March 25 | Danica Patrick | American former professional racing driver |
| March 26 | Joe Anderson | Actor |
| March 28 | Flula Borg | Actor |
| March 30 | Jason Dohring | Actor (Veronica Mars) |
| March 30 | Kenric Green | Actor |
| March 31 | Anna Mae Routledge | Actress |
| March 31 | Brian Tyree Henry | Actor |
| April 1 | Taran Killam | Actor, comedian (The Amanda Show, Wild 'n Out, Mad TV, Saturday Night Live) |
| April 1 | Sam Huntington | Actor |
| April 3 | Cobie Smulders | Canadian actress (How I Met Your Mother) and model |
| April 5 | Hayley Atwell | English actress (Agent Carter, Conviction) and singer |
| April 6 | Bret Harrison | Actor (Grounded for Life, The Loop, Reaper, Breaking In) |
| April 10 | Chyler Leigh | Actress (Grey's Anatomy, Supergirl) |
| April 10 | Joanna Christie | Actress |
| April 15 | Seth Rogen | Canadian-American actor, comedian (Freaks and Geeks, Saturday Night Live) |
| April 16 | Gina Carano | American actress |
| April 18 | Abigail Hawk | Actress |
| April 19 | Ali Wong | American actress |
| April 22 | Cassidy Freeman | Actress (Smallville, Longmire) |
| April 24 | Kelly Clarkson | Singer and actress (American Idol, The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Voice) |
| April 26 | Cedric Sanders | Actor |
| April 27 | Katrina Johnson | Actress (All That) |
| April 28 | Harry Shum, Jr. | Actor (Glee, Shadowhunters) |
| April 30 | Drew Seeley | Canadian-American actor (Glory Daze) |
| April 30 | Joseph Perrino | American actor |
| April 30 | Kirsten Dunst | Actress (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Fargo) |
| May 1 | Jamie Dornan | Northern Irish actor (Once Upon a Time) |
| May 2 | Poppy Harlow | American journalist |
| May 3 | Rebecca Hall | Actress |
| May 4 | Charissa Thompson | TV host |
| May 6 | Lindsay Pulsipher | Actress (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, True Blood, The Beast) |
| May 6 | Tiffany Coyne | Model |
| May 9 | Rachel Boston | Actress (American Dreams, Witches of East End) |
| May 11 | Cory Monteith | Actor (Glee) (d. 2013) |
| May 13 | Ana Cabrera | Journalist |
| May 14 | Anjelah Johnson | Actress (Mad TV) |
| May 15 | Alexandra Breckenridge | Actress (Family Guy) |
| May 16 | Tiya Sircar | Actress |
| May 24 | Chaunté Wayans | Actress |
| May 25 | Fryda Wolff | Actress (The Owl House, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!) |
| May 27 | Natalya Neidhart | Pro Wrestler (Total Divas) |
| May 28 | Alexa Davalos | Actress (Reunion, The Man in the High Castle) |
| May 29 | Joanne Borgella | Reality TV personality (American Idol (season 7), Made, Mo'Nique's Fat Chance) (d. 2014) |
| May 31 | Jonathan Tucker | Actor |
| June 2 | Jewel Staite | Canadian actress (Firefly, Stargate Atlantis) |
| June 2 | Whitney Able | Actress |
| June 8 | Thomas Hobson | Actor (The Fresh Beat Band, That Girl Lay Lay) |
| June 14 | Lawrence Saint-Victor | Actor (Guiding Light) |
| June 16 | Missy Peregrym | Canadian actress (Life as We Know It, Reaper, Rookie Blue) |
| June 17 | Arthur Darvill | English actor (Legends of Tomorrow) |
| June 19 | Michael Yarmush | Actor |
| June 20 | Necar Zadegan | Actress |
| June 21 | Jussie Smollett | Actor (On Our Own, Empire, Underground) |
| June 25 | Whit Johnson | American journalist |
| June 29 | Lily Rabe | Actress (American Horror Story) |
| June 29 | Colin Jost | Actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
| June 30 | Lizzy Caplan | Actress (Related, The Class, Party Down, Masters of Sex) |
| July 1 | Hilarie Burton | Actress (One Tree Hill) |
| July 4 | Michael Sorrentino | TV personality (Jersey Shore) |
| July 8 | Sophia Bush | Actress (One Tree Hill, Chicago P.D.) |
| July 8 | Ariel Helwani | Canadian-American combat sports analyst |
| July 10 | Morgan Ortagus | American television commentator |
| July 13 | Aya Cash | American actress |
| July 18 | Ryan Cabrera | American musician |
| July 19 | Jared Padalecki | Actor (Gilmore Girls, Supernatural) |
| July 20 | Percy Daggs III | Actor (Veronica Mars) |
| July 22 | David Fynn | Actor |
| July 23 | Paul Wesley | Actor (American Dreams, The Vampire Diaries) |
| July 23 | Tom Mison | English actor (Sleepy Hollow) |
| July 24 | Anna Paquin | Canadian actress (True Blood) |
| July 24 | Elisabeth Moss | Actress (The West Wing, Mad Men) |
| July 24 | Lauren Miller Rogen | Actress |
| July 25 | Brad Renfro | Actor (d. 2008) |
| July 26 | Megan Ketch | Actress |
| July 28 | Tom Pelphrey | Actor (Guiding Light, Iron Fist) |
| July 29 | Allison Mack | Actress (Smallville, Wilfred) |
| July 30 | Martin Starr | Actor (Freaks and Geeks, Party Down, Silicon Valley) |
| July 30 | Yvonne Strahovski | Actress (HeadLand, Chuck) |
| July 30 | Brandon Scott | Actor (This Is Us, Dead to Me, 13 Reasons Why) |
| August 1 | Julia Ioffe | American journalist |
| August 3 | Aron Stevens | Pro wrestler |
| August 6 | Romola Garai | Actress |
| August 7 | Abbie Cornish | Actress (Outriders) |
| August 7 | Brit Marling | Actress (Babylon, The OA) |
| August 9 | Jes Macallan | Actress (Mistresses) |
| August 10 | Katrina Begin | Actress |
| August 10 | Vincent Rodriguez III | Actor |
| August 11 | Amanda Sudano | Singer |
| August 12 | River Butcher | Actor |
| August 13 | Sebastian Stan | Actor |
| August 16 | Todd Haberkorn | Voice actor (Ever After High, Ben 10) |
| August 16 | Cam Gigandet | Actor |
| August 17 | Mark Salling | Actor (Glee) (d. 2018) |
| August 17 | Jon Lovett | Comedian |
| August 19 | Erika Christensen | Actress (Six Degrees, Parenthood) and singer |
| August 19 | Melissa Fumero | Actress (One Life to Live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) |
| August 20 | Meghan Ory | Canadian actress (Once Upon a Time) |
| August 20 | Jamil Walker Smith | Actor (Hey Arnold!, Waynehead, Stargate Universe) |
| August 25 | Benjamin Diskin | Voice actor (Hey Arnold!, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Stitch!, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Ultimate Spider-Man, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Muppet Babies, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle) |
| August 26 | John Mulaney | Actor |
| August 27 | Leah McSweeney | American television personality |
| August 29 | Echo Kellum | Actor (Ben and Kate, Arrow, Sean Saves the World) |
| September 1 | Zoe Lister-Jones | Actress (Delocated, Whitney, Friends with Better Lives, Life in Pieces) |
| September 4 | Whitney Cummings | Comedian and actress (Whitney) |
| September 5 | Hallie Haglund | Comedian |
| September 8 | Chumlee | American businessman |
| September 10 | Bret Iwan | Voice actor (current voice of Mickey Mouse) |
| September 10 | Misty Copeland | Actress |
| September 13 | J. G. Quintel | Voice actor (Regular Show) |
| September 17 | Jillian Mele | News anchor |
| September 19 | Columbus Short | Actor |
| September 20 | Jessica Pimentel | Actress |
| September 22 | Katie Lowes | Actress |
| September 22 | Billie Piper | Actress |
| September 23 | Alyssa Sutherland | Australian actress (Vikings) |
| September 23 | Pendleton Ward | Voice actor (Adventure Time) |
| September 24 | Tom Degnan | Actor |
| September 27 | Anna Camp | Actress (The Mindy Project) |
| September 28 | Matt Cohen | Actor (South of Nowhere) |
| September 29 | Stephen "tWitch" Boss | Actor (died 2022) |
| September 30 | Kieran Culkin | Actor (Long Live the Royals) |
| September 30 | Lacey Chabert | Actress (Party of Five, The Wild Thornberrys, Family Guy, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice, Transformers: Rescue Bots, Shimmer and Shine, The Lion Guard, Justice League Action) |
| October 3 | Erik von Detten | Actor (Recess, Odd Man Out, So Weird, The Legend of Tarzan, Complete Savages) |
| October 6 | Mike Mitchell | Actor |
| October 9 | Michael Arden | Actor |
| October 9 | Colin Donnell | Actor (Arrow, The Affair, Chicago Med) |
| October 11 | Humphrey Ker | Actor |
| October 12 | Sarah Smyth | Actress |
| October 15 | Lane Toran | Voice actor (Arnold on Hey Arnold! (1996–97)) |
| October 15 | Brandon Jay McLaren | Actor |
| October 16 | Pippa Black | Actress |
| October 19 | Gillian Jacobs | Actress (Community, Love) and singer |
| October 20 | Katie Featherston | Actress (Paranormal Activity) |
| October 28 | Michael Stahl-David | Actor |
| October 30 | Clémence Poésy | French actress (The Tunnel) |
| November 1 | Michaela Dietz | Actress (Steven Universe, Barney & Friends, The Ghost and Molly McGee) |
| November 10 | Heather Matarazzo | Actress |
| November 12 | Anne Hathaway | Actress (Get Real) |
| November 14 | Laura Ramsey | Actress (Hindsight) |
| November 18 | Damon Wayans Jr. | Actor (New Girl, Happy Endings, Happy Together) |
| November 21 | Paul W. Downs | Actor |
| November 21 | Ryan Starr | Reality TV personality (American Idol, The Surreal Life) |
| November 25 | Natalia Cordova-Buckley | Mexican actress (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) |
| November 25 | Marci Gonzalez | Reporter for CBS News |
| November 26 | Jessica Camacho | Actress |
| November 28 | Adam McArthur | Voice actor (Star vs. the Forces of Evil) |
| November 28 | Alan Ritchson | Actor |
| November 29 | Gemma Chan | English actress (Dates, Humans) |
| November 29 | Lucas Black | Actor (American Gothic, NCIS: New Orleans) |
| November 29 | Eddie Spears | Actor |
| November 30 | Elisha Cuthbert | Actress (Are You Afraid of the Dark?, 24, Happy Endings) |
| December 2 | Streeter Seidell | Actor |
| December 5 | Gabriel Luna | Actor (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) |
| December 5 | Alberto Guerra | Actor |
| December 6 | C. J. Thomason | Actor |
| December 7 | Jesse Johnson | Actor |
| December 7 | Jack Huston | Actor |
| December 8 | Nicki Minaj | Singer |
| December 14 | Jesse Garcia | Actor |
| December 15 | George O. Gore II | Actor (New York Undercover, My Wife and Kids) |
| December 16 | Zoe Jarman | Actress |
| December 20 | David Cook | Singer (American Idol) |
| December 21 | Tom Payne | Actor |
| December 22 | Harry Ford | Actor |
| December 28 | Beau Garrett | Actress |
| December 29 | Alison Brie | Actress and singer (Mad Men, Community, BoJack Horseman, GLOW) |
| December 30 | Kristin Kreuk | Canadian actress (Edgemont, Smallville, Beauty & the Beast) |
| December 31 | Jermaine Williams | Actor (The Jersey) |

## Deaths

| Date | Name | Age | Notability |
| January 1 | Victor Buono | 43 | Actor (King Tut on Batman) |
| January 5 | Hans Conried | 64 | Actor (Make Room for Daddy, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Dr. Seuss special) |
| January 10 | Paul Lynde | 55 | Actor (Bewitched), comedian (Hollywood Squares) |
| January 18 | Trent Lehman | 20 | Child actor (Nanny and the Professor) |
| March 5 | John Belushi | 33 | Comedian/Singer (Saturday Night Live) |
| May 14 | Hugh Beaumont | 73 | Actor (Ward Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver) |
| July 21 | Dave Garroway | 69 | Journalist and host (The Today Show) |
| July 23 | Vic Morrow | 53 | Actor (Sgt. "Chip" Saunders on Combat!) killed by negligence of director John Landis on set of Twilight Zone: The Movie |
| August 12 | Henry Fonda | 77 | Actor |
| August 13 | Joe E. Ross | 68 | Actor (Gunther Toody on Car 54, Where Are You?) |
| October 18 | Bess Truman | 97 | First Lady of the United States and spouse of President Harry S. Truman |
| November 1 | James Broderick | 55 | Actor (Family) and father of Matthew Broderick |
| November 4 | Dominique Dunne | 22 | Actress (Poltergeist) murdered by abusive boyfriend, first victim of the "Poltergeist curse" |
| December 7 | Will Lee | 74 | Actor (Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street) |
| December 22 | Jack Webb | 62 | Actor, producer (Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet) |